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Virgin Blue Goes To Town… More Flights To Townsville

Virgin Blue will today launch a brand new service between Townsville and Sydney, bringing more low fares and more flight options to and from the popular North Queensland port.

The first flight from Sydney will land at Townsville Airport at 1.10pm where inaugural Guests will be greeted with champagne and cake by local tourism, business and airport authorities.

The new direct service to Sydney will compliment Virgin Blue’s existing flight schedule between Townsville and Brisbane, which offers double daily flights on weekdays as well as three flights a day on peak travel days Friday and Sunday.

Virgin Blue will almost double frequency for services in to and out of Townsville when it launches an additional Brisbane-Townsville flight in April.

Virgin Blue’s Chief Executive Brett Godfrey said, “Townsville was chosen as Virgin Blue’s very first regional port. It is going from strength to strength and we are excited to be adding even more capacity into this key regional centre as well as providing more choice and convenience for those who have supported Virgin Blue with such enthusiasm over the past few years.”

He added, “We’ve been keeping a close eye on our booking trends and we identified a large number of people using our connecting service between Sydney and Townsville via Brisbane and that prompted us to provide a more convenient direct alternative for Townsville travellers.”

Virgin Blue has a special “wow” fare of $129* one way on the net on offer to celebrate the new route on sale until March 14 for travel between March 11 and April 6.

Standard fares start from $149* one-way on the net (Mid-Week Mini-Fare), with a Fully Flexible fare of $399* one way, 37% cheaper than the competition.

The new flight to Sydney will allow Townsville based business and leisure travellers to save time by flying direct to the New South Wales capital while at the same time, providing a more attractive option for tourists to visit Townsville and its surrounding delights such as Magnetic Island.

The direct Sydney flight also increases the travel options for interstate travellers by offering more convenient connections from Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra to Townsville.

The local business and airport community have applauded Virgin Blue’s decision to launch the direct Sydney flights.

Newly appointed Townsville Enterprise Limited Chief Executive Glenys Schuntner said, “We are delighted to welcome this new service which certainly indicates Virgin Blue’s confidence in our destination. We are looking forward to working together to develop this important sector for both the tourism and business markets.”

Cath Rule, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Airports (Townsville) Pty Limited said, “Virgin Blue has always been a strong supporter of Townsville and we certainly welcome the introduction of this direct service and extra capacity on this key route.”

* All fares are for flights booked on the Internet. $10 more by phone. Mid-Week Mini-Fares are for travel on Tuesday and Wednesday. Fares are subject to availability and may not be available on all flights or peak days. The $129 sale fare is on sale today until March 14 2004 and is for travel between today and April 6.